The Black Widow

Gabriel Allon, the art restorer, spy, and assassin described as the most compelling fictional creation "since Ian Fleming put down his martini and invented James Bond" (Rocky Mountain News), is poised to become the chief of Israel's secret intelligence service. But on the eve of his promotion, events conspire to lure him into the field for one final operation. ISIS has detonated a massive bomb in the Marais district of Paris, and a desperate French government wants Gabriel to eliminate the man responsible before he can strike again.

The Mark of the Assassin

When a commercial airliner is blown out of the sky off the East Coast, the CIA scrambles to find the perpetrators. A body is discovered near the crash site with three bullets to the face: the calling card of a shadowy international assassin.

The Unlikely Spy

"In wartime," Winston Churchill wrote, "truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." For Britain's counterintelligence operations, this meant finding the unlikeliest agents imaginable - including a history professor named Alfred Vicary.

American Assassin

Before he was considered a CIA superagent, before he was thought of as a terrorists worst nightmare, and before he was both loathed and admired by the politicians on Capitol Hill, Mitch Rapp was a gifted college athlete without a care in the world . . . and then tragedy struck.

The Wrong Side of Goodbye: A Harry Bosch Novel, Book 21

Harry Bosch is California's newest private investigator. He doesn't advertise, he doesn't have an office, and he's picky about who he works for, but it doesn't matter. His chops from 30 years with the LAPD speak for themselves. Soon one of Southern California's biggest moguls comes calling. The reclusive billionaire has less than six months to live and a lifetime of regrets. He hires Bosch to find out whether he has an heir.

First Strike: A Thriller

Deep within the Pentagon, a covert multibillion arms-for-influence program was created. The objective was to protect the United States and its allies from terrorist acts by secretly enabling a handpicked man to emerge as the most powerful leader in the Middle East. But the charismatic Tristan Nazir double-crosses America, twisting the program for his own violent ends to create ISIS. Now America is at great risk.

No Man's Land: John Puller Series

John Puller's mother disappeared nearly 30 years ago. Despite an intensive search and investigation, she was never seen again. But new allegations have come to light suggesting that Puller's father - now suffering from dementia and living in a VA hospital - may have murdered his wife. Puller is officially barred from working on the case and faces a potential court-martial if he disobeys the order, but he knows he can't sit this investigation out.

Night School: A Jack Reacher Novel, Book 21

It's 1996, and Reacher is still in the army. In the morning they give him a medal, and in the afternoon they send him back to school. That night he's off the grid. Out of sight, out of mind. Two other men are in the classroom - an FBI agent and a CIA analyst. Each is a first-rate operator, each is fresh off a big win, and each is wondering what the hell they are doing there. Then they find out: A jihadist sleeper cell in Hamburg, Germany, has received an unexpected visitor - a Saudi courier seeking safe haven while waiting to rendezvous with persons unknown.

The Whistler

Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct. She is a lawyer, not a cop, and it is her job to respond to complaints dealing with judicial misconduct. After nine years with the board, she knows that most problems are caused by incompetence, not corruption. But a corruption case eventually crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business with a new identity. He now goes by the name Greg Myers, and he claims to know of a Florida judge who has stolen more money than all other crooked judges combined.

A Great Reckoning: A Novel

When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes. Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must. And there he finds four young cadets in the Sûreté academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map.

Oath of Office: A Luke Stone Thriller, Book 2

A biological agent is stolen from a biocontainment lab. Weaponized, it could kill millions, and a desperate national hunt ensues to catch the terrorists before it is too late. Luke Stone, head of an elite FBI department, with his own family still in jeopardy, has vowed to walk away - but when the new president, barely sworn in, calls him, he can't turn his back on her. Shocking devastation follows, winding its way all the way to the president, who finds her own family in jeopardy.

An Obvious Fact

In the midst of the largest motorcycle rally in the world, a young biker is run off the road and ends up in critical condition. When Sheriff Walt Longmire and his good friend, Henry Standing Bear, are called to Hulett, Wyoming - the nearest town to America's first national monument, Devils Tower - to investigate, things start getting complicated.

Situation Room: A Luke Stone Thriller, Book 3

A cyberattack on an obscure US dam leaves thousands dead and the government wondering who attacked it, and why. When they realize it is just the tip of the iceberg - and that the safety of all of America is at stake - the president has no choice but to call in Luke Stone.

Orphan X

Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He's also a man with a dangerous past. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as part of the off-the-books black box Orphan program, designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence assets - i.e. assassins. He was Orphan X. Evan broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear.

Any Means Necessary: A Luke Stone Thriller, Book 1

When nuclear waste is stolen by jihadists in the middle of the night from an unguarded New York City hospital, the police, in a frantic race against time, call in the FBI. Luke Stone, head of an elite, secretive department within the FBI, is the only man they can turn to. Luke realizes right away that the terrorists' aim is to create a dirty bomb, that they seek a high-value target, and that they will hit it within 48 hours.

Lone Wolf: A Noah Wolf Thriller, Book 2

When Team Camelot is handed an unusual mission to rescue the abducted daughter of a foreign president, Noah and the rest go into it with confidence, and are quickly successful. Back home, they are ready to celebrate, but something doesn't feel right. The mission was too easy, and there are indicators that someone may have discovered who they are and tracked them back to Neverland.

Escape Clause: A Virgil Flowers Novel, Book 9

The first storm comes from, of all places, the Minnesota zoo. Two large and very rare Amur tigers have vanished from their cage, and authorities are worried sick that they've been stolen for their body parts. Traditional Chinese medicine prizes those parts for home remedies, and people will do extreme things to get what they need. Some of them are a great deal more extreme than others - as Virgil is about to find out.

The Obsidian Chamber

After a harrowing otherworldly confrontation on the shores of Exmouth, Massachussetts, Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast is missing, presumed dead. Sick with grief, Pendergast's ward, Constance, retreats to her chambers beneath the family mansion at 891 Riverside Drive - only to be taken captive by a shadowy figure from the past. Proctor, Pendergast's longtime bodyguard, springs to action, chasing Constance's kidnapper through cities, across oceans, and into wastelands unknown....

Publisher's Summary

Daniel Silva delivers another spectacular thriller starring Gabriel Allon, The English Girl. When a beautiful young British woman vanishes on the island of Corsica, a prime minister’s career is threatened with destruction. Allon, the wayward son of Israeli intelligence, is thrust into a game of shadows where nothing is what it seems...and where the only thing more dangerous than his enemies might be the truth.…

Silva’s work has captured the imagination of millions worldwide; his number-one New York Times best-selling series, which chronicles the adventures of art-restorer and master spy Gabriel Allon, has earned the praise of listeners and reviewers everywhere. This captivating new pause-resister from the undisputed master of spy fiction is sure to thrill new and old fans alike.

Gabriel Allon is finally aging, and finally realizing his human limitations. This story moves him around the board, and promises to change his career and family life. It is a great deal to accomplish in one book. The shows, as usual, an unwilling Gabriel called into action. But somehow he appears more human in this. By teaming up with former enemies who showed themselves to be as good as he was, he improves what the author tantalizingly alludes to as perhaps his last "secret" assassination assignment. All of Silva's books are excellent. It is interesting that he is allowing his protagonist to age and perhaps mellow. It will be interesting to see how far he carries that drift in subsequent books.

Well-paced, understandable (if you read/listen to spy novels, you'll know they can easily become convoluted) plot, and believable characters. Allon was his intense but in-control self, Chiara a bit more involved in this one. A few new characters were introduced, and I hope to see them again in future books. Interesting and for the most part, unpredictable. As usual, George Guidall's narration was perfect. He can read his grocery list to me and I'd probably be riveted.

While I am sure fans of Silva will enjoy this book, it is just not for me. I really don't want to read books about torture and trafficking in human beings. Just not to my taste at all. Perhaps such goes on in the world - I am not naive - but I choose fiction for entertainment and enlightenment. I do not choose to spend my leisure time with torture and violence. Just a personal preference, I am sure.

This was my first Daniel Silva book and probably my last. I've enjoyed the Mitch Rapp series written by Vince Flynn and also enjoyed David Baldacci novels as well so was looking for something similar from a new author. I found this to be a book that dragged on and was very slow in parts and with a constant deluge of me characters throughout, it became confusing. By the end it was a struggle to finish.

13 times I've walked beside Gabriel Allon. Never perfect, never indestructible, always honourable and consistently brilliant. Allon is a hero for an adult. He falls, he fails and he strives and he wins.

Considering the history, there are two long anticipated outcomes pending, not yet delivered. This is one of my very favourite Gabriel Allon stories. It's written in three parts, the first two stand alone, and the final is the way a wrap up should be done.

Daniel Silva's characters are real, they're believable, and his insight into how the professional service agent's mind works is very compelling. We are so accustomed to western heroes being American or British, the slight Israeli provides a nice balance and his humanity makes him a joy to read and encourages anticipation for the next story.

Daniel Silva's Allon is not James Bond, he is not any of the Seal/Ranger/Force Recon/SAS/SBS/Delta warriors. He is an artist, and art restorer, who also happens to be the best that Mossad fields. If you've never read Silva, you're missing a great deal, but start at #1 and work through the series. You'll be very glad you did.

I am a big fan of Daniel Silva's books. They are a little more quirky than the average spy novel. The main character is not some all-action hero like Mitch Rapp in the Vince Flynn books (although I am a great fan of these stories too). He is a more complex, rounded character but with his own personal demons.

The story itself is plausible, although some may think it a little far-fetched. I won't reveal any spoilers, but will say that it is a gripping plot with a number of unexpected twists to it.

The narration is good and up to the usual standards of George Guidell, who remains one of my top narrators.

Highly recommended.

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Miller

Tel Aviv, Israel

8/30/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"Good spy audio-book"

Very good audi-book for travels.The rythem of this story keeps you awake for the entire story.Surely i will letten to another of Daniel Silva audio-books.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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